


Countdown

by misfitwolves



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Fluff and Angst, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-14
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-19 09:46:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1464781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misfitwolves/pseuds/misfitwolves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a timer on everyone's wrist that counts down to the moment they meet their soulmate. Scott's ends the first day of the last semester of Sophomore year, and restarts months after. Stiles' ends the first day of the third grade with the entrance of a certain redhead; little does he know hers ends too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Countdown

**Author's Note:**

> The idea was stuck in my head all day and I just had to write it.

There’s a timer on his wrist that counts down to the moment that he meets his soulmate; he was born with it, just like everyone else. Stiles Stilinski’s timer ends on the first day of the third grade when the new girl, a pretty redhead, sits next behind the desk next to him; her name is Lydia Martin, and Stiles (even without the knowledge that this girl is his soul mate) falls in love instantly.

It's the first day of the last semester of Sophomore year when Scott's timer hits zero with the arrival of Allison Argent. Stiles is happy for them but his own empty timer burns on his arm as it has for the last eight years, and he starts to worry that though Lydia might be his soul mate, he might not be hers. 

*

Lydia Martin's timer hits zero on the first day of third grade at her new school; this knowledge travels through her mind every single day. When she first starts going out with Jackson she's convinced he's her soulmate; until she sees the still ticking timer on his left forearm, and surprisingly (to her at least) she's not as disappointed as she thought she would be. She doesn't try to seek whoever ended her timer, doesn't wear the zeros proudly on her arm as some people do, instead she hides them with bracelets, and bangles, and watches, anything to hide the fact that she'd found her soul mate at the age of eight and had lost them promptly after. 

As the years go by Lydia's world spins crazily into the supernatural, she finally gets a real best friend (as decided as soon as Allison Argent walked through the doors of Beacon Hills High School), finds herself hanging out (and becoming friends) with Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski, two boys she'd known (and promptly ignored) for half her life; in fact the most normal thing to happen to her is Jackson breaking up with her and moving to London, and again she's surprised when it doesn't hurt as much as she thinks it should. 

As they enter Junior year, Allison starts to bug Lydia, as any good best friend would and should, about her apparent investigative partnership with Stiles; Lydia protests, insisting that all they do is work out plans to save the pack's collective sorry asses whenever they end up in trouble, and while yes he does look (extremely) cute (she means hot) with his now longer hair, they're only friends. While Lydia can understand her friend's questioning (the pair do spend quite a lot of time at each other's houses) what she can't understand is Allison's insistence that she look at his timer, 

"Really Lydia just ask to see his timer." Allison tells her, a smile playing on lips, "I can't just ask him, it's private! And why would I even care anyway?" Lydia responds with her usual air of indifference; it's times like these that she almost regrets letting it slip to Allison that her timer had ended, she doesn't regret not telling her when it ended though, if she had Lydia was sure that Allison would almost undoubtedly try to find her soul mate. Allison just smiles wider, "Trust me I think you'll care." she says in a tone mysterious enough to infuriate Lydia; but still she doesn't ask. 

Allison is killed just before winter break and Lydia doesn't know what to do, now more than ever she feels alone. Lydia blames herself, she should have done better to keep her away, she should have been stronger, (she should have helped Stiles close the door in his mind sooner), maybe then she would still have a best friend and Scott would still have a soul mate. The funeral passes, winter break comes and goes, giving way to spring which starts to slip into summer and Lydia starts to feel okay, and she starts to live again. And Scott's timer? Instead of fading...it restarts.

(Only to stop once more on the first day of the last semester with the arrival of Kira Yukimura). 

But as summer starts, Lydia doesn't know that her decision to go to Danny's white party (because Allison would want her to live and have fun, and who knows with Lydia's banshee abilities she doesn't want to risk having her best friend yell at her for being an idiot) would change everything. 

*

Stiles goes to Danny's white party because frankly he needs the distraction (the fact that it was, once again, being held in Derek's loft without his knowledge was just an added bonus). He spots her almost immediately (Scott had always teased him about having a Lydia Martin radar), leaning against the wall by the stairs, looking like an angel in her white dress glowing under the UV lights. Though he wants to approach her and rid her of her distantly sad expression, the one she always has nowadays, he doesn't. Stiles blames himself for her expression, blames himself for Allison's death despite whatever anyone tells him; so he watches her from a distance, as he's always done. As the night progresses Stiles looks over at the spot Lydia had been occupying for most of the night but finds her gone. His eyes flicker around the room looking for her red hair and pink lips; when he can't find her, Stiles tries to fight the panic travelling up his spine, the words  _she's fine she's fine she's fine_  spinning round his mind like a mantra. He needs to find her, he needs to make sure she's okay; he can't bare the thought of looking down at his arm to find the zeros faded, gone.  

When he finds her alive and well on the balcony, Stiles nearly kicks himself for worrying and goes to leave her, a feeling of guilt had settled too heavily in his stomach for him to face her, when he hears her voice, "Don't go." He whips round and sees her with a small, delicate smile on her face and he knows he can't leave even if he wanted to. 

"Hi."

"Hi." 

The exchange is a little bit awkward at first due to the pair's distance after Allison's death, but they soon slip back into their easy routine.

*

 

It's really late, and they're both sitting on the floor, when Lydia takes a deep breath and quietly changes the subject, "You know Allison was always telling me to ask you about your timer?" Stiles raises his eyebrows in surprise, both at the subject matter and at the mention of Allison (they had managed to stay away from the painful topic), "Really?" Stiles feels a bit awkward talking about this with her considering she's the one who ended his timer, and falls back on his nervous habit of rubbing the back of his neck. "Hmmm." Lydia hums non-committedly, trying to seem casual despite her racing heart. Stiles sighs, closing his eyes, realising that he might as well tell her, and shyly shows her his arm full of zeros, only opening his eyes at the sound of her small gasp. Lydia reaches out, lightly tracing the curves of the numbers, "When did it stop?" she asks, her mind racing; Stiles wasn't with anyone, so who was his soulmate? 

"It stopped when I was eight, first day of the third grade." 

_What?_

"What?" Lydia asks not quite believing what he was saying, Stiles frowned at her, "It stopped on the first day of third grade, why?" Lydia stops tracing the zeros on his arm (the movement causing Stiles to miss her delicate touches immediately) and starts to fiddle with the bracelets on her left arm, seeming as though she was talking herself into doing something. "Lydia? What's wrong?" Lydia doesn't answer him; instead she pulls off the jewellery hiding her timer and turns her arm to show him her zeros.

"Mine stopped on the first day of third grade too."

_What?_

Stiles couldn't believe it. She couldn't be saying what he thought she was saying. Could she?

"Wait so I'm your soulmate? I mean I knew you were mine from the moment I saw you but I wasn't sure I was yours, the timers aren't always a match - "

Lydia's lips prevent him from saying anymore. She pulls away slightly after a moment, her lips brushing his as she assures him, "It's you Stiles, okay? Deep down, I think I always knew it was going to be you." And she had known when she thinks about it, she knew that she'd felt the tingle of her timer ending as soon as she's met his eyes, and she knew that her feelings towards him had certainly changed over the past two years; she was his emotional tether for god's sake! But she'd been scared, and losing Allison had been the push that she'd needed to make sure that she didn't lose him, that she couldn't lose him.

He kisses her this time, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her closer; her arms around his neck, her fingers curled in his hair (she'd always liked his longer hair), neither intending to part until they had to. In their brief moments apart, Lydia thanks Allison; and Stiles kisses away the tears that fall with her memories. For the first time in a long time Lydia doesn't feel alone at all, because she'd found Stiles and he'd found her; and they would never lose each other again.   

 


End file.
